Tales of a Lonely Pony

by Echo Montana Juliet

Like Night to Day

The morning came along, and he'd not figured out a way to tell them of his plight. Instead, he'd figured out a plan to trick them so that he could go back home. Back to the cold. Back to the way things were before he found that stupid obelisk. The guards took their time. Dawn was upon him, and the guards did not show up. Noon came, and still not a single pony to be seen. By the time dusk had arrived, he became concerned. No other ponies had said a word since last night. He hadn't received any food as of yet, and he filled up his bucket. He banged on the door. No one said anything. He rattled it, and still no guards. He started yelling, and crying out for a guard but none came. It was growing dark, and the torches wouldn't burn forever. He began to slam against the cell door. After three tries it fell down. The bars looked rusty now that he looked at them. Like they hadn't been replaced in twenty years. He thought about that for a moment. About that idea of twenty year old iron bars. That couldn't be. When he'd been put in there those bars looked brand new. Running through the exit door to the guards quarters, there wasn't a soul to be seen. He started to panic. Running out of the guards quarters lead him to the grand hall. If he remembered correctly, he sped to the throne room. When he got in there, his suspicions were confirmed. He was back home. The wall to the obelisk was still destroyed, so it couldn't have been some kind of dream. He walked into the room with the obelisk and found something that hadn't been there before. A wall covered by a large book case, lined with books. At random he grabbed a book off the shelf and examined it. It was a single book dedicated to permanent translation spells. All of the books, as he went through, them had the crystal heart on their covers. He found a book on teleportation. A book on transmogrification. Two had various spells designed to enhance learning and reading capabilities, but as he looked through them, he realized he'd lost the horn. He was no longer a unicorn. This didn't surprise him much, but it was unfortunate. He'd been happy to be like his mother and father for once, and now it was gone. He finished skimming through a book on advanced unicorn physics, when he suddenly fell asleep. He dreamt of nothing. He hadn't had a dream in the longest time. Not even since long before the kingdom fell. Though he'd heard strange voices. Evil voices. Ones that he'd never heard before, nor would have imagined them belonging to any of the ponies he's ever seen, except for perhaps Iron Hoof. He couldn't make out what they were trying to convey to him, but got none of it. When he woke up, he'd remembered none of the dream. All lost into the crevices of his mind. Realizing he was hungry, he decided to see if the kitchen still had any edible food. He'd heard that they kept the food in boxes sealed with magic to prevent aging and molding, so he wanted to see if the magic was as good as his father's. He entered the dining room, and it looked like it was set up, just before Halderon was put on trial for his offenses. A kind of last meal that Halderon never ate. He walked through the next set of doors into a large kitchen, where he found the boxes. Opening them he'd discovered that the magic was still working, and that the food looked just fine. Though he'd realized why the people were so unhappy with him. Meat of other sentient beings. There was all kinds of meat products in these containers, and he refused to eat any of it. Even if it was just fruit covered in the juices, it was just wrong. He'd finally found a section dedicated to fruits and vegetables, and he feasted. It was the most food he'd eaten since he'd been accepted by the council of rabbits. Being an honorary rabbit has it's bonuses. Walking back to the obelisk, he had redone what he'd needed to to reopen the passage to the second world. Everything was the same, not problems, so he stepped through once more with his newly acquired knowledge. Falling through the vortex, he thought to himself about how he got back, thinking it was as subtle as night to day, from ice to water, etc.